The present invention relates to sporting equipment performance based stiffness parameters, and more particularly to modifying the stiffness parameters in a piece of sporting equipment, such as skis and snowboards.
Existing skis and snowboards are designed for specific skiing conditions (groomer, powder, off-piste, and the like) that provide better control for each skiing/snowboarding environment. This is accomplished by changes in the physical shape of the skis, the manufacturing materials and binding/boot configurations among other factors. Once manufactured, except for minor adjustments, such as waxing or binding adjustments, the performance characteristics of existing skis or snowboard are mostly fixed. As a result, none of the existing categories allow a skier/snowboarder to modify the stiffness of the ski/snowboard to adapt to changing snow conditions during the day. According to present systems and methods, various sets of skis are needed for different ski conditions or level of expertise.
For example, when a skier may start on cold and hard surface slopes, and weather conditions gradually change throughout the day to create softer or slush type snow. In addition to changing weather conditions, the snow conditions may also be affected by skier density, whereby the more skiers/boarders slide on the snow during the day, the more the snow conditions may be affected. With fixed performance characteristics built into the skis, snowboard, boots, and bindings, it has not been possible to make changes to the same equipment to accommodate changing snow conditions.
If skis are left outside, their core, top surface and bottom surface temperatures are very similar to the ambient temperature. If skis are maintained indoors the night before prior to skiing, the core, top surface and bottom surface temperatures adjust to the outside ambient temperature in 20 to 25 minutes.
As can be seen, there is a need for a more responsive ski/snowboard/boot system for the high performance and recreational skier that will allow the user to further enjoy their sport and potentially provide them with better protection against injury.